"If God should ever cease to address your body and soul with the command 'Be!' you would cease to be. The only barrier between you and nothingness is the Word of God."

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org.

APPLICATION

Likewise, the only barrier between a fruitful you and nothingness is the Word of God.

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17).

Headlines revealed the startling news that Warren Weinstein, an American aid worker and economic adviser held hostage in Pakistan since 2011, was killed in an errant drone strike targeted against Al Qaeda operatives. The airstrike, which took his life and that of Italian hostage Giovanni Lo Porto, actually occurred in January, though, the White House only acknowledged to deadly mistake this week (4/23/15).

As America reeled at the news, new details have emerged of the long sought efforts to secure his freedom. The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy have both reported that Weinstein’s family actually paid $250,000 ransom in 2012. Though the Pakistan government reportedly worked with the family to deliver the funds through an intermediary, the effort did not secure his release in return.

“We are devastated by this news and the knowledge that my husband will never safely return home. We were so hopeful that those in the U.S. and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so, and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through.”

APPLICATION

Deals are only as good as the word of the guarantor.

It seems that neither the word of the kidnappers, nor even the word of the Pakistani government were sufficient to guarantee the release of the captive once payment of ransom was satisfied. And the failure of the deal ultimately led to Weinstein’s death and his family’s heartbreak. They had hoped that those “with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so.”

Our hearts break with and for the family of Warren Weinstein. To be promised release from captivity, only to have it snatched away, is cruel enough. For rescue to have not come in time, and Weinstein to have died in captivity at the hands of his own government makes his death that much more painful, more tragic.

In a very real sense, we are all held ransom—by sin—the great kidnapper of our souls. Fortunately for us, the One with the “power to take action and secure our release” has not failed to do so.

Jesus is both our ransom and the guarantor of our freedom. He has both paid the price for our sin and guaranteed the promise of our salvation. Spiritually speaking, we will never know the pain of promises broken, nor the tragedy of death at the hands of the One pledged to guard our souls until the Day of Redemption.

“Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22).

“The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him” (Ephesians 1:14, NLT).